The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma - Thant Myint-U

The author of this book is an American writer of Burmese descent. His grandfather was a colleague and close friend of the heroes of Burmese independence and the Secretary-general of the UN from 1962 to 1971. Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was a frequent guest at his family's house in New York, before the 1988 uprising.
The book goes over the various phases of the history of the country, not always in strict chronological order, from the ancient kingdoms, through British colonization, Japanese occupation, post WW2 independence and military dictatorship, to the pro-democracy uprisings and government crackdowns of the end of the last century and the events that opened the current one.
National history is intertwined with the vicissitudes of the author's family, that has been very near the eye of the political storm that ravaged Burma over the last hundred years.
A very informative and engaging starting point if you're interested in this complicated and troubled yet fascinating corner of South East Asia.